Prince Edward Island being represented by the Honorables Colonel Gray, premier; Edward Palmer, attorney general; W. H. Pope, colonial secretary; George Coles, M. P. P., and A. A. Macdonald, M. L. C. The proceedings of the conference were not reported, but the late Mr.
Whelan, in his published account of the proceedings, says "it was well understood that the proposal to unite the maritime provinces under one government and one legislature was deemed impracticable; but the opinion of the delegates was unanimous that a union upon a larger basis might be effected; and with the view of considering the feasibility of such a union in all its details, it was proposed by the Canadian ministers to hold a further conference at Quebec, with the consent of the governments of the lower provinces, and at such time as might be named by the governor-general. This arrangement was agreed to, and the conference suspended its deliberations."
Before leaving Charlottetown, the delegates were entertained at a sumptuous banquet, by the executive council and some of the prominent citizens of Charlottetown. The entertainment was given in the Provincial Building, on the evening of the eighth of September. Speeches were delivered by a number of gentlemen, among whom were Lieutenant-governor Dundas, Hon. John Longworth, Hon. T. H. Haviland, and Frederick de St.
Croix Brecken, Esq.
From Charlottetown the delegates proceeded to Halifax, where they were similarly entertained. Fredericton was next visited, and in Saint John the festivities of Charlottetown and Halifax were repeated. On the tenth of October the conference at Quebec was opened. Prince Edward Island being represented by the Honorables Colonel Gray, Edward Palmer, W. H.
Pope, George Coles, T. H. Haviland, Edward Whelan, and A. A. Macdonald, which terminated on the twenty-seventh of October. From Quebec the delegates proceeded to Montreal, where they were hospitably entertained.
At a public banquet given at Montreal, the Honorable Colonel Gray introduced the Honorable Edward Whelan, requesting him to respond in behalf of Prince Edward Island, when he delivered a telling and eloquent speech. We can only spare s.p.a.ce for the concluding sentences: "It will be the duty," said the speaker, "of the public men in each and every province, whose representatives are now in Canada, to educate the public mind up to their views. The task may be a tedious, difficult, and protracted one, but no great measure was ever accomplished, or worth much, unless surrounded with difficulties. Deferring reverently to the public opinion of his own province, he would cheerfully go amongst his people, and explaining it as well as he could, he would ask them to support a measure which he believed would enhance their prosperity. Few, and comparatively poor, as the people of Prince Edward Island may be now, its fertile fields and valleys are capable of supporting a population at least three times greater than it is at present. It was once designated the garden of the Saint Lawrence; and it was a valuable fishing station for Canada during the occupation of the French, under Montcalm. It still possesses all the qualities of a garden, and its rivers and bays still abound with fish. He desired that those great resources should become as well known now, and in the future, as they were in by-gone days; and regarding the advantages which modern improvements and inst.i.tutions offered as auxiliaries to the natural resources of the colony, he was satisfied that she could not fail to become very prosperous and happy under the proposed confederation."
The Honorable T. H. Haviland-who now holds the office of colonial secretary-replied to the toast of our sister colonies. "He desired to draw attention to some peculiar facts connected with the present movement. They might recollect that this was not the first time that states had met together to organize a const.i.tution; for in times gone by the states of Holland had met to resist the tyranny of the Spanish Government; and the old thirteen states of America had also a.s.sembled under the cannon"s mouth, and the roar of artillery; but the peculiarity of this meeting was, that it was held in a time of peace, with the approbation, and he believed, with the sanction of Her Majesty; that the colonies might throw aside their swaddling clothes, to put on themselves the garb of manhood, and hand down to posterity the glorious privileges for which their ancestors contended from age to age in the old country, and which had been brought into these new countries under the protecting shadow of the flag that had braved a thousand years the battle and the breeze. Although Prince Edward Island had only eighty thousand inhabitants, princ.i.p.ally engaged in agriculture, yet, small as it was, it did not come as a beggar to the conference doors. Its revenue was not certainly very great, but there was yet a surplus of about four thousand pounds sterling to the credit of the province, over and above the thirty-six thousand pounds it spent for the government last year. Thus it had not come as a pauper, but was honestly prepared to do something-all in its power-to organize, here in America, a const.i.tutional monarchy, which should be able to spread those inst.i.tutions in which there was the soul of liberty."
The delegates proceeded afterwards to Ottawa and Toronto, where similar festive gatherings took place. But business was not neglected, as appears from the report subsequently published, which embodied the conclusions at which the delegates had arrived as the basis of the proposed confederation.
The report sets out with the declaration that the best interests and present and future prosperity of British North America would be promoted by a federal union, under the Crown of Great Britain, provided such union could be effected on principles just to the several provinces. In the federation of the British North American provinces, the system of government best adapted under existing circ.u.mstances to protect the diversified interests of the several provinces, and secure efficiency, harmony, and permanency in the working of the union, would be a general government charged with matters of common interest to the whole country, and local governments for each of the Canadas, and for the provinces of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Prince Edward Island, charged with the control of local matters in their respective sections,-provision being made for the admission into the union, on equitable terms, of Newfoundland, the North West Territory, British Columbia, and Vancouver.
In framing a const.i.tution for the general government, the conference, with a view to the perpetuation of the connection with the mother country, and to the promotion of the best interests of the people of these provinces, desired to follow the model of the British const.i.tution, so far as circ.u.mstances would permit.
The proceedings of the conference were authenticated by the signatures of the delegates, and submitted by each delegation to its own government, and the chairman was authorised to submit a copy to the governor-general, for transmission to the secretary of state for the colonies. The governor-general (Lord Monck) lost no time in transmitting the resolutions adopted at Quebec to the imperial government, which were hailed with satisfaction by the government and press of Great Britain.
The Canadian legislature met in February, 1865, when the report of the convention was discussed in both branches of the legislature, and a resolution submitted to them, respectively, to the effect that an address should be presented to Her Majesty, praying that she might be pleased to cause a measure to be submitted to the imperial parliament for the purpose of uniting the colonies of Canada, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Newfoundland, and Prince Edward Island in one government, with provisions based on the resolutions pa.s.sed at Quebec. After protracted discussion, the resolutions were pa.s.sed by large majorities.
The scheme did not meet with the same degree of favor in New Brunswick; for an election having taken place before the question was discussed in the house, a large majority was returned opposed to confederation.
In Prince Edward Island the scheme of confederation was not received with any degree of favor by the people generally. Indeed, popular hostility to union found expression not unfrequently at public meetings.
Early in February, 1865, a large meeting was held in Temperance Hall, at which the Honorable W. H. Pope, the colonial secretary,-who was always a decided unionist,-spoke effectively for an hour in its favor; but he was energetically opposed by Mr. David Laird and the Honorable Mr. Coles, who were regarded as two of the most able and prominent opponents of confederation. On the tenth of February, two large meetings were convened simultaneously. At one of these the Honorable Thomas H.
Haviland delivered a carefully prepared opening address of some hours"
duration, in which he earnestly advocated union, of which he had always been a consistent supporter. He was followed by the Honorable Mr. Coles, Mr. Archibald McNeill, the Honorable George Beer, the Honorable D.
Davies, and the Honorable Frederick Brecken,-the speeches of the two latter gentlemen being specially directed to an exposition of the deficiencies of the Quebec scheme as bearing on the interests of the island. [H] The other meeting was, at the outset, addressed by the Honorable Edward Palmer, who, according to the opinion of the anti-confederates, proved conclusively that confederation could not result in permanent benefit to Prince Edward Island. He was followed in stirring addresses by the Honorable Kenneth Henderson, the Honorable Joseph Hensley, and the Honorable J. Longworth. At this meeting the following resolution was proposed by Mr. Charles Palmer, and unanimously adopted: "That in the opinion of this meeting, the terms of union contained in the report of the Quebec conference-especially those laid down in the clauses relating to representation and finance-are not such as would be either liberal or just to Prince Edward Island, and that it is highly inexpedient that said report be adopted by our legislature."
The a.s.sembly was convened on the twenty-eighth of February, 1865, and on the twenty-fourth of March the colonial secretary (the Honorable W. H.
Pope) moved a series of resolutions approving of the terms proposed at the conference held at Quebec. An amendment in opposition to their adoption was submitted by the Honorable James C. Pope, and on a vote being taken, only five members voted for confederation, while twenty-three were antagonistic to its consummation.
During the session of the following year (1866) the question was again introduced to the house by a message of His Excellency the Lieutenant-Governor, transmitting a despatch from Mr. Cardwell, the imperial colonial secretary, on the subject of a federation of the British North American Provinces, when a resolution, more hostile to union than the amendment already specified, was, on the motion of the Honorable J. C. Pope, submitted to the house. It was moved, "That, even if a union of the continental provinces of British North America should have the effect of strengthening and binding more closely together those provinces, or advancing their material interests, this house cannot admit that a federal union of the North American Provinces and colonies, which would include Prince Edward Island, could ever be accomplished on terms that would prove advantageous to the interests and well-being of the people of this island, separated as it is, and must ever remain, from the neighboring provinces, by an immovable barrier of ice, for many months in the year; and this house deems it to be its sacred and imperative duty to declare and record its conviction, as it now does, that any federal union of the North American colonies that would embrace this island would be as hostile to the feelings and wishes, as it would be opposed to the best and most vital interests of its people." The Honorable James Duncan seconded this resolution. An amendment was proposed by the Honorable Edward Whelan, seconded by the solicitor general (the Honorable T. H. Haviland, now a senator of the Dominion), to the effect that there should be no vote pa.s.sed by the legislature as to the confederation of the provinces until the people should be first afforded an opportunity of p.r.o.nouncing their judgment on the question at a general election. Mr. Pope"s motion was carried by twenty-one votes to seven for the amendment. An address to Her Majesty the Queen, based on the action of the a.s.sembly, was subsequently adopted by the a.s.sembly and forwarded for presentation at the foot of the throne.
In the autumn of 1866, Mr. J. C. Pope went to England, and an informal offer was made through him by the delegates from the other provinces, then in London settling the terms of confederation, to grant the island eight hundred thousand dollars, as indemnity for the loss of territorial revenue, and for the purchase of the proprietors" estates, on condition of the island entering the confederation. But the people were not at this time in a temper to entertain the proposition for a moment.
In the autumn of 1869, the island was visited by Sir John Young, the governor-general of British North America. He was accompanied by several of his ministers, who discussed informally, with members of the government, the subject of a union of the island with the Dominion of Canada. On the eighteenth of December, 1869, the governor-general transmitted to Sir Robert Hodgson, the administrator of the government of Prince Edward Island, a minute of the privy council of Canada, relating to the question of a political union of the island with the Dominion. That minute was based on a memorandum dated the eleventh of December, 1869, from Sir George Cartier and Messrs. Tilley and Kenny, who took part in the informal discussion just alluded to, and who now submitted, for the approval of their colleagues in the Dominion ministry, the conditions on which they thought the island should be admitted to the union. These conditions received the formal sanction of the Dominion government, and were duly forwarded to Sir Robert Hodgson, who submitted them to a committee of the executive council, who, on the seventh of January, 1870, adopted the following minute: "The committee having under consideration the report of a committee of the privy council of Canada, wherein certain proposals for a union of Prince Edward Island with the Dominion are set forth, resolve, that inasmuch as said terms do not comprise a full and immediate settlement of the land tenures and indemnity from the imperial government for loss of territorial revenues, the committee cannot recommend said terms to the consideration of their const.i.tuents and the public." This minute was signed by the Honorable R. P. Haythorne, the leader of the government (now a senator of the Dominion), and his colleagues. The government subsequently presented a more detailed statement of their objections to the basis of union. These doc.u.ments were forwarded to Earl Granville, the colonial secretary; and, on the seventh of March, 1870, addressing his honor the administrator, he said: "It appears to me that the government of Prince Edward Island will not act wisely if they allow themselves to be diverted from the practical consideration of their own real interests, for the sake of keeping alive a claim against the imperial government which, it is quite certain, will never be acknowledged."
The subject of union came again prominently before the a.s.sembly in the session of 1870, on taking into consideration the messages of his honor the administrator of the government, transmitting various despatches and papers. The Honorable Mr. Kelly reported that the committee recommended that the house should adopt a resolution to the effect that the people"s representatives felt it to be their duty to oppose a union with the Dominion of Canada, and to express their opinion that the people of the island, while loyal in their attachment to the Crown and government of Great Britain, were, nevertheless, almost unanimously opposed to any change in the const.i.tution of the colony,-which resolution was carried by nineteen to four votes.
The next movement of importance in reference to the question of union was taken by the government, of which the Honorable Mr. Haythorne was the leader, on the second of January, 1873, when the executive council adopted an important minute containing new propositions, with a view to the union of the island with the Dominion of Canada. It was stated in the minute, that if Canada would accord liberal terms of union, the government of Prince Edward Island would be prepared to advise an immediate dissolution of the house, in order to give the people an opportunity of deciding whether they would go into confederation, or submit to the taxation required for railway purposes. The doc.u.ment was forwarded to the governor-general and submitted to the privy council of the Dominion, who suggested that a deputation should be sent to Ottawa by the government of the island, for the purpose of holding a conference on the subject of the proposed union. The Honorable Mr. Haythorne and the Honorable David Laird were accordingly appointed as delegates, representing the interests of the island; but they were not authorised to pledge either the government or the colony to any proposition that might be made by the Dominion of Canada. The delegation had several interviews with a sub-committee of the council, when the various questions connected with the important subject were fully discussed; and a minute of the terms and conditions mutually agreed to was finally drawn up. On the twelfth of March the governor-general sent a telegraphic despatch, evidently for the purpose of confirming the report of Messrs. Haythorne and Laird, intimating his ministers" opinion,-in which he expressed his own concurrence,-that "no additional concession would have any chance of being accepted by the parliament of Canada."
On the seventh of March the lieutenant-governor dissolved the house of a.s.sembly; and on the twenty-seventh of April the new house met, when the lieutenant-governor, in his opening speech, said that papers relative to the proposed union of the island with the Dominion of Canada would be laid before the house. Having dissolved the house in order that this important question might be submitted to the people at the polls, he now invited the representatives of the people to bestow on the question their careful consideration, expressing the earnest hope of the imperial government, that the island would not lose this opportunity of union with her sister provinces.
On the twenty-eighth of April the question was vigorously discussed by Mr. J. C. Pope and Mr. Laird; and on the second day of May, Mr. A. C.
McDonald reported, that the committee had come to a resolution to the effect that the terms and conditions proposed did not secure to the island a sum sufficient to defray the indispensable requirements of its local government; that the strong objections. .h.i.therto entertained by the people of the island to confederation having been much modified, and the present house of a.s.sembly, feeling anxious to meet the desire of the imperial government to unite under one government all the British possessions in America, was willing to merge the interests of the island with those of the Dominion on terms just and reasonable,-such as would not involve the people in direct local taxation for objects for which the ordinary revenue had hitherto enabled them to provide. The resolution further proposed to authorise the lieutenant-governor to appoint delegates to proceed to Ottawa to confer with the government of the Dominion on the subject.
To this resolution, the Honorable David Laird moved an amendment, which was seconded by the Honorable B. Davies, to the effect that the house should appoint a committee of seven to prepare an address to the Queen, praying Her Majesty in council to pa.s.s an order in council, in conformity with the one hundred and forty-sixth section of the British North America Act, uniting Prince Edward Island with the Dominion of Canada, on the terms and conditions approved of in the minute of the privy council of Canada, on the tenth of March, 1873. The question having been put, the original resolution was carried by sixteen to ten votes.
Messrs. James C. Pope, T. H. Haviland, and George W. Howlan having been appointed delegates by the lieutenant-governor, proceeded to Ottawa for the purpose of conferring with the Dominion government on the subject of the proposed union. On the seventh of May they had an interview with the governor-general on the subject of their mission, and immediately afterwards they attended a formal meeting of the privy council. A committee of the council, consisting of Sir John A. McDonald, the Honorables Messieurs Tilley, Tupper, and Langevin were then appointed to confer with the delegates, who had drawn up a memorandum which they submitted to the committee. In that memorandum the delegates proposed to accept, as the basis of union, the offer made in 1869 by the Dominion government, namely, two hundred and forty-one thousand dollars a year for revenue, provided the Dominion government would a.s.sume the cost of the railway, as well as that of the proposed branch to Port Hill. These terms were not acceptable to the committee of the privy council. A compromise was, however, ultimately effected, and on the fifteenth of May a memorandum, embodying terms mutually approved, was signed by the committee and the delegates.
The delegates returned immediately to Charlottetown, and the terms and conditions of the proposed union, which were substantially those procured by Messrs. Haythorne and Laird, as agreed to at Ottawa, were submitted to the house of a.s.sembly, then in session. The princ.i.p.al terms and conditions were the following: that the island should, on entering the union, be ent.i.tled to incur a debt equal to fifty dollars a head of its population, as shown by the census returns of 1871; that is to say, four millions seven hundred and one thousand and fifty dollars; that the island, not having incurred debts equal to the sum just mentioned, should be ent.i.tled to receive, by half-yearly payments in advance, from the general government, interest at the rate of five per cent. per annum on the difference, from time to time, between the actual amount of its indebtedness and the amount of indebtedness authorised; that, as the government of Prince Edward Island held no lands from the Crown, and consequently enjoyed no revenue from that source for the construction and maintenance of public works, the Dominion government should pay, by half-yearly instalments, in advance, to the government of Prince Edward Island, forty-five thousand dollars yearly, less five per cent. upon any sum not exceeding eight hundred thousand dollars, which the Dominion government might advance to the Prince Edward Island government for the purchase of land now held by the large proprietors; that, in consideration of the transfer to the parliament of Canada of the powers of taxation, the following sums should be paid yearly by Canada to Prince Edward Island, for the support of the government and legislature: that is to say, thirty thousand dollars, and an annual grant equal to eighty cents per head of its population, as shown by the census returns of 1871,-namely, ninety-four thousand and twenty-one,-both by half-yearly payments in advance,-such grant of eighty cents per head to be augmented in proportion to such increase of population of the island as might be shown by each decennial census, until the population amounted to four hundred thousand, at which rate such grant should thereafter remain,-it being understood that the next census should be taken in the year 1881. The Dominion likewise a.s.sumed all the charges for the following services: the salary of the lieutenant-governor, the salaries of the judges of the superior courts and of the district or county courts, the charges in respect to the department of customs, the postal department, the protection of the fisheries, the provision for the militia, the lighthouses, shipwrecked crews, quarantine, and marine Hospitals, the geological survey, and the penitentiary. The Dominion government also a.s.sumed the railway, which was then under contract. The main resolutions, on the motion of Mr. J. C. Pope, seconded by Mr. David Laird, were carried by twenty-seven votes to two. The house of a.s.sembly then unanimously agreed to an address to Her Majesty the Queen, praying that Her Majesty would be graciously pleased to unite Prince Edward Island with the Dominion of Canada on the terms and conditions contained in the said address. The legislative action necessary to consummate the union of Prince Edward Island with the Dominion of Canada being thus completed, its political destiny was united to that of the already confederated provinces on the first of July, 1873.
It may seem strange, to one unacquainted with the facts, that so great a change in public sentiment in regard to union should have been effected in so brief a period. The solution of the problem is to be found mainly in the circ.u.mstance, that the mercantile community was afraid of a monetary crisis, consequent on the liabilities of the island in connection with the railway, and that the only satisfactory way of getting out of the difficulty appeared to be the union of the island, on liberal terms, with the Dominion of Canada. Fidelity to historical accuracy constrains us to say that the final settlement of the terms was in no small measure attributable to the able manner in which Messrs.
Haythorne and Laird acquitted themselves when delegates at Ottawa; and it must further be stated, to the credit of these gentlemen, that they rose, when occasion required, above party prejudice, and communicated their desire to the Dominion government that further concessions should, if possible, be granted to the new delegates, so that the union might be effected without delay. But it must not, at the same time, be forgotten that the government of which Mr. J. C. Pope was the leader obtained better terms than those conceded to the previous delegation, and that to them belongs the merit, in a great measure, of bringing the question to a final solution.
CHAPTER XI.
Biographical Sketches:-Bishop McEachern-Rev. Donald McDonald-Rev. Dr. Kier-Hon. T. H. Haviland-Hon. E. Whelan-Hon.
James Yeo-Hon. George Coles-James D. Haszard.
Among the early settlers of the island, prominent alike because of his apt.i.tude for his position and the dignity with which he filled it, is the venerable figure of Bishop McEachern. While yet in early boyhood, about the year 1775, he was sent by the Scottish Bishop, John McDonald, to the Scotch Ecclesiastical College at Valladolid, in Spain. Having finished his studies there, he was ordained priest, and returned to Scotland, where he worked as a missionary for five years, under the Right Reverend Bishop Alexander McDonald. He arrived on the island either in August or September of 1790, and took up his residence at Savage Harbor. The church at Scotchfort was then the only catholic church on the island, and missionary duties were discharged at the residences of individuals in different parts of the colony. He acted as road commissioner, and laid out all the roads in the eastern portion of King"s County. His a.s.sistant in this duty was a Presbyterian clergyman,-the Reverend William Douglas. He was a man of such a stamp as sometimes we find, under severe difficulties, executing work so arduous that it seems only the language of truth to call his deeds heroic. He was, in his day, the only catholic priest on the island. His flock was widely scattered. Roads were few, and travelling, always difficult, was often attended with danger. But neither difficulty nor danger could daunt the zeal of the missionary. Now in his wagon, now in his boat or sleigh, he visited the remotest settlements. Everywhere he was welcomed, both by catholic and protestant. There are yet living protestants who received the waters of baptism from the hands of the good bishop. Among his catholic flock he was at once pastor and judge. He decided differences, he settled disputes, and his verdict was, in almost every case, gracefully acquiesced in. The kindness of his nature and his shrewd forethought fitted him admirably for the duties of a missionary among early settlers, struggling with the countless difficulties of a rigid climate and a new country. One little trait recorded of him gives us a glimpse of the thoughtful beneficence of his character. He was in the habit of hanging up buckets near the springs by the roadside, in order to enable travellers to water their horses on their journeys. The same benevolence permeated all his actions, and his hospitality was unbounded. In every settlement he had a fixed place, where he resided until he had performed his priestly duties among his flock. These duties must at one time have been very onerous, for he was bishop not only of Prince Edward Island, but also of New Brunswick. He was the second English-speaking catholic priest who came to the island.
Few names call up warmer feelings of respect than that of Bishop McEachern. Full of years and wearied out with labor, he died at his residence, near Saint Andrews. He was laid in the old chapel; but, a few years ago, the remains were removed to the new church, where they rest within the sanctuary.
The Reverend Donald McDonald died in 1867. He was born in Perthshire, Scotland, on the first of January, 1783; was educated at the University of Saint Andrews; and was ordained a minister of the Church of Scotland in 1816. He labored as a missionary in the Highlands until 1824, when he emigrated to Cape Breton. Here he preached two years. In 1826 he came to the island, and commenced his labors in the spirit of the true evangelist. To him, the toil of travelling over the country and ministering to the dest.i.tute was the highest pleasure. Mult.i.tudes flocked to hear him preach. In barns, dwelling-houses, schoolhouses, and in the open air he proclaimed his commission to eager hundreds. Here and there he organized his bands of workers and ordained elders. As years rolled on, his interest in his great work increased, and great success crowned his efforts. s.p.a.cious and elegant churches began to take the place of rude shanties. His people grew in numbers, in wealth, in respectability, and in love for their minister. To have him as a guest, or to drive him from one of his stations to another, was the highest honor.
His eloquence was of a high order. Before commencing his sermon he generally gave an introductory address, in which he would refer to the national, political, and religious questions of the day, and comment freely on them. His sermons were masterpieces of logical eloquence. He would begin in a rather low conversational tone; but, as he proceeded, his voice would become stronger. Then the whole man would preach,-tongue, countenance, eyes, feet, hands, body,-all would grow eloquent! The audience would unconsciously become magnetized, convicted, and swayed at the speaker"s will. Some would cry aloud, some would fall prostrate in terror, while others would clap their hands, or drop down as if dead. Seldom has such pulpit power been witnessed since the preaching of Wesley, Whitfield, and Edward Irving.
But it must not be supposed that the abundance of Mr. McDonald"s labors as a preacher prevented him from giving attention to study. Far from it. His intellect was too strong and too vigorous to rest. His pen was ever busy. He was profoundly read in philosophy. He was deeply versed in ancient and ecclesiastical history. He excelled in Biblical exegesis. No superficial thinker was he. The pen of no one but a master could produce his treatises on "The Millennium," "Baptism," and "The Plan of Salvation." He greatly admired the Hebrew and Greek languages. The Psalms of David, Isaiah"s Prophecies, and Solomon"s Songs were his delight. He was a graceful writer of English verse, an excellent singer, and played well on the flute. He published several collections of his poems and hymns. In the later years of his life one of his hymns was always sung at every service, set to some wild strain of his native Scotland, such as "The Campbells are coming," or "The Banks and Braes o"
Bonny Doon."
To say that Mr. McDonald was faultless, would be to say that he was more than human. To say that, as a great moral reformer, he had no enemies, would be to say that he was a toady and a time-server. He was a brave man. He had strong self-reliance, and still stronger faith in G.o.d. He attacked vices with giant blows. Woe to the opponent who crossed his pathway! He had rare conversational powers. His spirits were always good. He knew the circ.u.mstances of every family in his widely-scattered flock, and remembered the names of all the children. He had no certain dwelling-place, no certain stipend, and bestowed all he got on works of charity. He was rather below medium height, stout, and powerfully built.
He was hale and vigorous-looking to the last. His dress, appearance, and manners always bespoke the cultured Christian gentleman. He was never married.
In 1861 his health began to fail rapidly. It was thought he would not recover. He wrote epistles to his congregations commending them to G.o.d.
But he rallied, and was able, with varying strength, to labor six years longer. More than ever did his ministrations breathe the spirit of the Great Teacher. He was again brought low. He was at the house of Mr.
McLeod, of Southport. He felt that his end was near,-that his life-work was over; and a great work it was. He had built fourteen churches; he had registered the baptism of two thousand two hundred children, and had baptized perhaps as many more not registered; he had married more people than any living clergyman; he had prayed beside thousands of deathbeds; he had a parish extending from Bedeque to Murray Harbor, and from Rustico to Belle Creek; and he had five thousand followers, more attached to their great spiritual leader than ever were Highland clansmen to their chief. But he was as humble as a child. To G.o.d he gave the glory for all. He retained his faculties, and was glad to see his old friends at his bedside. Many came from far and near to take their last farewell and receive the dying blessing of the venerable patriarch.
He sank gradually, suffering no pain, and on Friday, the twenty-second of February, in the eighty-fifth year of his age and the fifty-first of his ministry, he breathed his last.
The place of interment was the Uigg Murray Harbor Road churchyard, eighteen miles distant from Charlottetown. The funeral was the largest ever witnessed in the colony. All cla.s.ses united in paying the last tribute of respect to the honored dead. The cortege numbered over three hundred and fifty sleighs. As the great procession moved down through the country, at the roadsides and at the doors and windows of the houses might be seen old men weeping, and women and children sobbing as if they had lost a father; and in the presence of a vast a.s.semblage, near the church where his eloquent voice had so often melted listening thousands, and where he had so often celebrated, at the yearly sacrament, the Saviour"s death, the remains of the Reverend Donald McDonald were laid to rest. A costly monument marks the spot. [I]
Amongst the first-cla.s.s representative ministers of the Presbyterian body in Prince Edward Island, we may safely place the Reverend Dr. Kier, who was born in the village of Bucklyvie, in the parish of Kippen, Scotland, in the year 1779. He was educated at Glasgow College, studied theology under Professor Bruce, of Whitburn, and was licensed by the a.s.sociate or antiburgher Presbytery of Glasgow about the beginning of the year 1808, and, in the autumn of that year, arrived as a missionary on the island, under the auspices of the General a.s.sociate Synod in Scotland. In 1810, Dr. Kier settled in Princetown, having been ordained in June of that year. This was the first organized Presbyterian congregation on the island. The call to Dr. Kier was subscribed by sixty-four persons, embracing nearly all the heads of families and male adults of the Presbyterian population in Princetown Royalty, New London, Bedeque, and the west side of Richmond Bay; and when the jubilee of the venerable doctor was held, in 1858, only fourteen of the number who signed the call were living. There is not one of the old Presbyterian congregations on the island, whether then in connection with the Scottish Establishment, the Free Church, or the Presbyterian Church of Nova Scotia, which did not, to some extent, enjoy his missionary labors, or experience his fostering care in its infancy. In most of them, Dr.
McGregor planted; but he watered, while others have reaped.
Dr. McCulloch having died in the year 1843, Dr. Kier was, at the meeting of Synod held in the following summer, chosen his successor as theological tutor. "We have sat under men of greater originality of thought," writes one who knew him well,-"men who impressed us more deeply with a sense of their intellectual power,-but we never sat under one who produced deeper impressions of moral goodness, nor one who, in the handling of the great themes of Christian doctrine, presented them more as great practical realities."
When the jubilee, to which we have already referred, took place, the whole country round poured forth a stream of carriages and hors.e.m.e.n.
Tables for tea had been spread for four hundred and fifty guests, and these were filled four times, and part of them five times. It may be stated, as indicative of the estimation in which Dr. Kier was held, that it was calculated that three thousand persons were then present to do him well-earned honor. The address delivered by Dr. Kier on that occasion was as chaste and modest in expression as it was deeply interesting in matter, and his hearers little imagined that the venerable speaker, who then appeared in good health, was destined, in two months and two days, to rest from his labors. The memory of the just is blessed.
The Honorable Thomas Heath Haviland, Senior, was born at Cirencester, in the County of Gloucester, England, on the thirtieth of April, 1796. More than fifty years previous to his death, Mr. Haviland came to Charlottetown, and entered upon the duties of an office to which he had been appointed by the Prince Regent. In the year 1823-the last year of the administration of lieutenant-governor Smith-he was appointed a member of His Majesty"s executive council. The soundness of his judgment, his prudence, moderation, and courtly manners at once gave him influence at the council board; and for upwards of a quarter of a century-from the days of Colonel Sir John Ready until the stormy times of Sir Henry Vere Huntley, which immediately preceded the introduction into the colony of responsible government-his influence was paramount.
In 1824 he was appointed a.s.sistant judge of the supreme court. From 1830 until 1839 he held the office of treasurer, which, in this year, he resigned for the office of colonial secretary. In 1839 the legislative council was separated from the executive council, and, by the Queen, Mr.
Haviland was appointed its first president. On the introduction of responsible government, in 1851, he retired from office, and shortly after, with his family, visited England. His attachment to the island induced him to return to it, after a comparatively short absence. At the time of his death he was Mayor of Charlottetown,-having been annually elected to that office from 1857. He was also president of the Bank of Prince Edward Island. During his long official career he discharged his public duties with ability and dignity.